Astronauts Haul Cargo, Prepare for Spacewalk

HOUSTON -- Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery and the International SpaceStation (ISS) are hauling cargo between their two spacecraft today whilepreparing for an extra spacewalk to pack away a half-furledsolar array atop the orbital laboratory.

AsDiscovery's loadmaster, STS-116mission specialist JoanHigginbotham, is overseeing the transfer of supplies and equipment betweenthe shuttle and ISS, though each of her crewmates have at least some cargoduties today [image].

"Themajority of this shift is probably going to be dedicated primarily to transferactivities," ISS flight director Joel Montalbano said here at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a morning status update. "If you add it all up, it's about 30 crewhours today and this will put us back probably around 95 percent or so ofcompleted transfer."

WhenDiscovery launchedtowards the space station on Dec. 9, it carried4,107 pounds (1,862 kilograms) of supplies, equipment and other hardware tuckedin the Spacehab module mounted within its payload bay, with another 1,107pounds (502 kilograms) of cargo riding up inside the orbiter's middeck,NASA officials have said. The Discovery crew is due to return to Earth with about 2,998 pounds (1,359 kilograms)of unneeded items from ISS inside the Spacehab module while packing away about727 pounds (329 kilograms) of material in their shuttle's middeck.

NASAofficials have scheduled about 100 crew hours of cargo transfer time altogetherfor Discovery's STS-116mission [image].

"This teamis cooking on all cylinders" Montalbano said. "They're all doing a great job."

Spacewalkersprepare

In additionto hauling cargo, Discovery spaceflyers RobertCurbeam and ChristerFuglesang, of the European Space Agency (ESA), will prime their NASAspacesuits today for a Monday extravehicular activity (EVA) specifically aimedat furling a stubborn solar array atop the space station's mast-likePort 6 (P6) truss.

Missionmanagers added the spacewalk to the shuttle crew's busy schedule late Saturdayafter efforts to shake the solar array appeared successful, though Curbeam and hisspacewalking partner SunitaWilliams ultimately ran out of time to coaxthe array into its storage boxes [image].

Fuglesangand his crewmates awoke today at 9:17 a.m. EST (1417 GMT) to the "Blue DanubeWaltz," a song featured in the science fiction film 2001:A Space Odyssey but chosen for the ESA astronaut for other reasons.

"Goodmorning, I guess my wife chose that song, probably from our wedding day when wedanced to this nice waltz," said Fuglesang of his wife Elisabeth.

"Well youcan think about tomorrow as you dance out the airlock and start your EVA again,"NASAastronaut Shannon Lucid, serving as spacecraft communicator in MissionControl

"I'll dothat, it feels like dancing out there," Fuglesang, who will make the thirdspacewalk of his astronaut career Monday, said.

Curbeamwill be the first shuttle astronaut to perform four spacewalks in a single orbiterflight, but is a veteran of extravehicular activity and currently ranks 13^thon the list of all-time spacewalkers, NASA officials said Saturday.

TriciaMack, NASA's lead spacewalk officer for Discovery's STS-116mission, said the two astronauts will perform a series of standardpre-spacewalk activities, among them: charging their NASA spacesuit batteries, goingover procedures and an evening "campout"in the space station's Quest airlock to reduce the amount of time spentbreathing pure oxygen to purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams. Astronautspurge nitrogen from their systems as a preventative measure against developingdecompression sickness, also known as the bends, while working inside their lowerpressure spacesuits.

Mission managers called on the shuttleastronauts to pick through Discovery's tool box for any generic items thatmight prove useful during Monday's spacewalk, Mack said. Any items tapped as apossible tool during the solar array shaking spacewalk will have to be wrappedin Kapton tape as a safety measure, she added.

The spacestation's robotic arm will also be moved into a position that will allowastronauts wider access to the troublesome solar array, NASA officials said.

Discoveryshuttle pilot William Oefelein, who also serves as the intravehicularactivity choreographer for the STS-116 spacewalks, will oversee a review this eveningto go over tomorrow's planned EVA, she added.

"We'll beready to go Monday," Mack said.

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